Senator: Concerned Columbia Crew took Pictures of Damaged Left Wing

Florida Today.com ^ | Februrary 5, 2003 1:20PM | Staff Wire Report

[ewing]

Crew members of the Space Shuttle Columbia were concerned about the orbiter's damaged left wing according to United States Senator George Allen. (Republican-Virginia)

One of the crew members, Mission Specialist David Brown, sent e-mail messages to his brother Doug during the mission, Allen said. In those e-mails, David Brown said that the crew took pictures of the left wing because they were concerned about it, Allen said.

The Senator was only repeating information he recieved from Doug Brown, said his spokeswoman, Carrie Cantrell. There was no phone listing for Doug Brown's home in Arlington and he could not be reached today.

A 2 and one half pound chunk of insulation foam struck the underside of the wing during lifoff as the shuttle sped upwards of 1,900 MPH last month. At the time NASA officials did not think the damage would be a problem, but the agency is now investigating the wing as a possible reason that Columbia shattered on re-entry into Earth's atmosphere on Saturday.

[DittoJed2]

Are the cracks in it for real?

[Bernard Marx]

I don't think the AP writer really wanted to use the word "eluded." He probably was thinking about "alluded"

Hey, they sound almost the same. What's the big deal? Sort've like affect and effect -- who really knows? (Sarcasm, of course).

[Joe Hadenuf]

bttt

[r9etb]

The crew was asked to photograph the external tank upon separation.

Something they do just about every mission.

[dasboot]

Shot of cargo bay door...officially off radar for relevance.

[Denver Ditdat]

Did they have the robot arm out on this mission?

No.

[Joe Hadenuf]

This "information" is most likely false.

Read my post more carefully.

""Now lets see the images if they exist,""

[Mo1]

That is NOT the wing .. and doesn't have anything to do with the problems the shuttle had as far as I can tell of everything I've read

[Centurion2000]

Allen only briefly eluded to the astronauts’ concerns in a longer speech Tuesday that memorialized David Brown, a Virginia native

Actually I'll bet he never proofread his article either. this error would have gotten past a grammar and spellcheck in Office.

The machine is an adjunct for your thought processes; not a replacement folks.

[Fred Mertz]

Did they have the robot arm out on this mission?

Poohbah assured me that the Canadian (?) arm was not on board this mission.

[Jorge]

If this US Senator produces the picture of the cargo bay wall with a stovepipe hat, I'll just have to laugh myself silly.

Yes...people come up with so many hoaxes and paraniod sounding conspiracy theories after disasters it gets predictable.

Remember that photo of the guy on top of the WTC with the jet coming straight at him? Too many kooks with too much time on their hands.

[Carry_Okie]

Did they have the robot arm out on this mission?

No.

Thank you. Then it's doubtful that the crew got a photo without going EVA. I don't think that there's a ground tracking camera with that kind of resoultion.

[r9etb]

Read my post more carefully. ""Now lets see the images if they exist,""

The stunning information would be that they were concerned and taking pictures at all -- not whether they had pics in-hand.

This is the first and only comment I've seen anywhere about this. Like I said, it stinks to high heaven.

[mr.pink]

Are the cracks in it for real?

I grabbed the pict from the thread of the other day and was able to add cracks via Photoshop without too much effort.

I even cleaned up the blue of the earth that sloppily spills onto the wing surface.... that's what troubled me when I first saw the pict.

[DittoJed2]

Well the original article said it was a wing:http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corriere.it%2FPrimo_Piano%2FCronache%2F2003%2F02_Febbraio%2F03%2Fcrepe.shtml&langpair=it%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&prev=%2Flanguage_tools">Original

[Mo1]

Trust me .. It is NOT the wing

Hey Howlin do you have a link to the thread that proved this picture is not the wing and is really the cargo bay?

[timestax]

Got a feeling this is phoney. I believe NASA said there is no way the astronauts could view the damage. And why would they send a message to home rather than NASA.

DITTO...they could not even see under wing, let alone take pics of it!!

[Boot Hill]

"This story smells like a month-old beached whale."

Those were good "if-then" propositions. And it's interesting that you would say those things. Since I've never seen you get behind anything with even the faintest odor of tinfoil to it, I have to give your opinion extra credence here. But about the communications between Houston and the orbiter, wouldn't they have a channel with voice encryption, spread spectrum and hidden off on a frequency that was unlikely to be monitored (for holding "sensitive" discussions)?

Boot

[Jael]

Why would he tell the media? They have not really shown a big interest in going after the whole truth. Neither has NASA as of yet. I think your congressman would be the perfect person to go to.

[DittoJed2]

Oh, I could do the same thing with Paint Shop Pro. Still the original source didn't budge from what they stated it was. I guess the Italians and the Israeli news service are bogus????